Gillian & Chris — colour, joy, and Kodak Portra at a 15th-century wine castle near Sitges
Some weddings are elegant. Some weddings are intimate. Gillian and Chris's wedding was a party — generous, colourful, bursting with personality, and planned down to the last glitter ball with the kind of love and attention that made every guest feel like the most important person in the room.
Gran Villa Rosa is a 15th-century wine castle set on 20 hectares of Mediterranean gardens, just 25 minutes from Barcelona airport and a short drive from Sitges. Pink stone walls, Moorish arches, a private chapel, a pool terrace surrounded by palms — it has the grandeur of a historic estate with the warmth of someone's home. Azalea Events House designed the day around who Gillian and Chris actually are: travel lovers, dog people (Butter, their beloved pup, was there for the whole thing), the kind of couple who writes a handwritten note for every single guest and puts custom hand fans and parasols on every chair because they know a Catalan summer afternoon is no joke.
The colour palette was bold — vibrant florals by Daniel Lafuente against the soft pink stone, table settings that popped with warmth and life, the kind of styling that photographs beautifully because it's not trying to be beautiful, it's trying to be joyful. Gillian wore Vera Wang — classic, effortless, the perfect counterpoint to all that colour around her.
I photographed the entire day on medium format film, developed at Carmencita Film Lab. Portra 400 was made for a day like this — the warm Mediterranean light, the saturated florals, the pink stone of the villa turning golden as the afternoon deepened. Where digital would have clipped those bright colours into something harsh, Portra held them with softness and warmth. The ceremony by the pool, the speeches that had everyone crying and laughing in the same breath, the first dance, the glitter balls catching the evening light — all of it on film, all of it alive.
What I remember most about this wedding is the noise. Not in a bad way — in the best way. Laughter carrying across the garden, music shifting from ceremony strings to late-night dancing, Butter barking at the confetti. It was a wedding that sounded as good as it looked.
Featured on Style Me Pretty and Wedding Sparrow.
If you are planning a wedding at Gran Villa Rosa — or any of the extraordinary estates near Barcelona and Sitges — I know these venues, I know this light, and I know how to photograph a celebration that's as colourful and joyful as the people at the centre of it.
